Military commander denies coup plot

Zimbabwe’s top military commander has dismissed British press reports that senior officers planned to overthrow President Robert Mugabe in the event of widespread civil unrest, the official ‘Herald’ newspaper reported on Thursday.

“It’s not true because that type of thing is not being expected in this country. I as the commander would have known about the coup,” General Vitalis Zvinavashe told the newspaper. In reference to the allegation that Air Marshal Perence Shiri would lead the putsch, Zvinavashe insisted: “Those said to be the coup leaders are under (my) command and have no such plans ... What is being mentioned about them (commanders) is not right. There is nothing that is going to happen that way. We are one, we are going to remain united. We know what we are there for ... our responsibility ... is to defend this country.”

The ‘Guardian’ newspaper reported this week that the Zimbabwean army had made secret approaches to South Africa to express fears that anticipated food shortages in the next few months could prompt riots and other unrest, triggering a military coup. The ‘Herald’ quoted South African President Thabo Mbeki as telling parliament on Wednesday that Pretoria “has no information of any coup being planned in Zimbabwe, and I must say we are opposed to coups”.

A separate ‘Guardian’ article alleged that if Mugabe’s removal was being planned, it would be to protect the interests of the ruling party and military hierarchy. “If Robert Mugabe’s generals ever decide to tell him that his two-decade reign as Zimbabwe’s ever more abusive president is over, it will not be because the military top brass has suddenly decided to respect the will of the people,” the ‘Guardian’ said. “What will probably be a bloodless, almost imperceptible coup - with the state radio announcing that the great liberator has decided to quit because of ill health, or some equally innocuous explanation, - will come because Mugabe threatens to bring the entire ruling ZANU-PF and its elite crashing around him.”

As a result of Zimbabwe’s liberation war, the armed forces and government leaders share close links, analysts told IRIN. Business ties have allowed senior army officers to profit from Zimbabwe’s intervention in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and over the past few years there has been a noticeable “militarisation” of security-related civilian posts in government.

“They have not only been brought (into government) by the politicians, the fact is they are already there as key decision-makers. The military leadership are card carrying members of (the ruling) party and sit on the central committee,” Martin Rupiya, Executive Director of Zimbabwe’s Centre for Defence Studies, told IRIN last year in response to concerns then surrounding the politicisation of the military.

But on Thursday he described the ‘Guardian’ article as “speculation”. “The Southern African region is not prone to coups,” he told IRIN. “A military regime would have to think twice. I don’t see them surviving Western sanctions and the South African response. And don’t underestimate civil society.”